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Reflective Essays

Vol. 13 No. 2

Acting Locally in a Flat World: Global Citizenship and the Democratic Practice of Service-Learning

  • Richard M. Battistoni
  • Nicholas V. Longo
  • Stephanie Raill Jayanandhan
Submitted
July 22, 2010
Published
2010-07-22

Abstract

This article suggests ways to frame the democratic practice of service-learning in the context of a global society, and reports on emerging efforts at three universities to act globally through local community engagement. The article concludes with practical lessons for promoting global citizenship through service-learning in higher education. Democracy must begin at home, and its home is the neighborly community. —John Dewey, The Public and Its Problems
The world is being flattened. I didn’t start it and you can’t stop it, except at a great cost to human development and your own future. —Thomas Friedman, The World Is Flat